Betrayal in its simplest form

Chapter 12

"They're late!" Hyuuga announced. "Why the hell are they late?"

"Who knows?" Teppei hummed and dribbled down the court to make a lay-up. "All we got to do is warm-up and wait for them."

Kagami angrily grabbed a basketball off the floor, jumped from the free-throw line, and dunked it hard into the basket. It creaked and protested under his strength and weight. "Oi, Kagami, what's the big idea?" Hyuuga threw him an odd look. "Save that strength for our match."

"Haven't you noticed?" He waved his large arms around the gym. "Kuroko's missing!"

Seirin's basketball team stopped warming up and looked around for the small, teal-haired teen. They made sure to look at every corner of the gym, including behind them, since it was already so hard to spot Kuroko even when he was there. "You're right," Koganei chirped. "He's . . . not here?"

Mitobe, ever so silent, nodded slightly.

"What?" Tsuchida scratched his head. "He missed all the practices, and now he's missing the practice match?"

"You don't think," the coach of Seirin hesitated, "You don't think what Haisaki said is true, do you?"

Everybody but Kagami swallowed. "I-it would explain all the injuries," Hyuuga commented reluctantly.

"And the skipped school days." Teppei added.

Izuki also mentioned, "And the events from a few days ago, at practice."

They all were silent. None of them dared to say another word about Haisaki's words. They were too scared to find out the truth, because if it was true Kuroko was being abused, everyone would feel horrible for not knowing. Kuroko, even though he was a shadow, supported their team in his little, unknown ways. It wasn't the same without him, and the fact that they've neglected to know that their passer had been broken this whole time was devastating.

"Sorry we're late!" A cheerful, loud voice hollered just as the gym door opened. Kise Ryouta happily skipped into the gym, holding a basketball to his hips with one arm. A large grin was on his face. "There was traffic, I swear! And you know how long it takes to get here from Kanagawa," Kise defended when the whole Seirin team turned to glare at him.

"Idiot, there wasn't any traffic," Kasamatsu, Kaijou's captain, slapped the back of Kise's head. "You just had to give your autographs to all your annoying fans and help up the carpool!"

"Senpai, that was supposed to be a secret!" Kise whined, rubbing his head. Then he looked around and frowned. "Are the refs here?"

Riko's dad stepped in and shook his head. "This is just a private practice match. I'll be the referee for the game. One of each benched player from both teams will help keep score on the score board." He pointed to the lit up scoreboard on the wall, followed by the machine that controlled it. Tsuchida already sat behind it, knowing he wouldn't play in this match.

"Fine by me," Kise crowed. "We already warmed up running here, so let's just start!" The blonde surveyed Seirin's basketball team and sighed in relief. "Kurokocchi isn't here."

"Oi, you better not go easy on us just because Kuroko isn't playing," Kagami warned. "We'll kick your ass if you do."

Kise waved him off. "Nah, Kurokocchi would never forgive me if I did that. Besides, I already knew he wasn't coming today. Akashicchi said so."

This caught Kagami's attention. No, it caught everyone from Seirin's attention. What did he mean that he knew Kuroko wouldn't be here? Does that mean he knows the reason why the teal-haired boy had been AWOL the past few days? Did everyone from the Generation of Miracles know? Kagami scowled at how little he knew. He'd always hated when he was left out of things, especially when it came to Kuroko.